Tenth of DecemberTenth of December
Score Modern
What it's about
Ten stories by George Saunders: a teenage girl in danger and the boy next door who must decide whether to help; a father who buys a lawn ornament of living women hung on wires; prisoners used as test subjects for drugs that control emotion; and, in the title story, a lonely boy on a frozen pond and a dying man who came there to end his life.
Why it's worth reading
It was a National Book Award finalist, and the New York Times and the Guardian both named it one of the best books of the 21st century. Saunders is funny, strange and deeply kind.
You'll love it if you liked
Lincoln in the Bardo
A Manual for Cleaning Women
CathedralGood to know
Many stories are set in odd near-futures and written in quirky voices that take a moment to click. Escape from Spiderhead became the film Spiderhead.
By the numbers
- Readers39 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics86 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller56 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz1 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #67 of the 309 literary novels we rank
- #305 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #608 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Thought-provoking, Dark, Moving
More by George Saunders
If you like this, read next
Anathem
Cloud Atlas
Station Eleven
Exhalation
The Dispossessed
The Midnight LibraryExplore the best-of lists
All 36 best-of lists →
Quick answers
Is Tenth of December worth reading?
Yes. It was a National Book Award finalist, and the New York Times and the Guardian both named it one of the best books of the 21st century. It ranks #608 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 77.0 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Tenth of December about?
Ten stories by George Saunders: a teenage girl in danger and the boy next door who must decide whether to help; a father who buys a lawn ornament of living women hung on wires; prisoners used as test subjects for drugs that control emotion; and, in the title story, a lonely boy on a frozen pond and a dying man who came there to end his life.
How long does it take to read Tenth of December?
About 5 hours (208 pages), or about 10 days at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Tenth of December?
If you liked it, try Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin or Cathedral by Raymond Carver.